The Sun, Moon & Stars

35. Halloween, 1993

'And you're sure neither of you can come?' Ron frowned, as he put one of his knitted jumpers on over his white t-shirt.

'It's not safe, Ron. You know that.' Hermione said from behind, as she collected some of her coins and put them into a small pouch.

'Yes, it's not safe for Harry. But Ophelia—it's safe for her, isn't it?'

'I'm spending the day with my Dad.' Ophelia piped up from behind the stack of books in front of her—she was furiously scribbling a few sentences on her essay for transfiguration.

'We'll be fine. Bring us back some sweets and we'll see you at the feast.' Harry smiled, as he dropped a couple galleons into Ron's hands—who gratefully accepted them.

'Alright then. We'll see you later.'

With that, Hermione and Ron left the common room—dressed up for the brisk fall weather, with their coin pouches in hand, and made their way to Hogsmeade.

'You're welcome to come and spend the day with us too, you know.' Ophelia spoke up, to Harry, as she grabbed her homework and some of her books off the round wooden table they were sitting at. The common room was empty. Everybody in third year or above was at Hogsmeade today, except Ophelia and Harry—and the rest of the younger ones were outside enjoying the nice fall weather; like they ought to have been, but weren't allowed.

Harry looked deep in thought, looking out the window; longing to be able to go with them, to not have to be stuck in here for 'safety purposes'. She felt the same way—and not telling him was killing her.

'I'm alright. I might go the library.' Harry said absentmindedly.

Ophelia gave him a skeptical look. 'You're sure?'

'Positive.' Harry nodded, turning to give her a reassuring smile.

Ophelia sighed, 'Harry you can talk to me you know. I meant what I said in first year—we're like siblings, you can tell me anything. I can see you're worried.'

'I'm fine, I promise.' Harry shook his head. 'Have fun with your Dad.'

Ophelia gave him an uneasy look before sighing, 'Alright then. If you need company, and we are more than happy to spend time with you, you know where to find us.' She grabbed her book bag and her wand and she left the common room, waking up the Fat Lady by doing so.

As she walked down the corridor she thought a lot about Harry—she had a feeling him being off today had less to do with not being able to go to Hogsmeade, and more to do with what day it was. Halloween. Twelve years since his parents died, and the day he got that scar. Harry wasn't one to express his feelings often—he didn't like talking about them like some people did, he preferred to be alone. Ophelia respected that, she understood him wanting space—she also just wished there was something she could do to make him feel better, or that instead of suffering alone he might just talk to her.

Her and Remus on the other hand were on good terms again. After her disappearance the week before, things had been tense; but with chocolate, tea and a lot of talking—they were okay again. Remus was never angry, just worried—he was under the impression she had been kidnapped and Ophelia's heart broke seeing him so nervous about her.

When Ophelia entered Remus' office, he already had their tea ready—in two floral teacups sitting on his desk, as well as an array of treats on a platter—but he himself was sleeping in his chair; curled up into it like a small child, his sandy brown hair messy and all over his face, and dark bags under his soft honey eyes—tonight was the full moon, it was expected.

She didn't wake him, today was a tough day and if he could stay in dream land for a little while longer she was happy with that. She sat down in front of his desk, and pulled out her Transfiguration homework—an essay about how to properly transfigure items of large stature. As she wrote on the parchment, she was sure to make sure her quill wasn't too loud; she pressed softly, and tried to avoid scratching noises—and she didn't say a word, or utter any noises for a whole hour before he finally woke.